N. Korea to resume dismantling nuclear facilities

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SEOUL — North Korea said Sunday it will resume dismantling its main nuclear facilities, hours after the United States removed the communist country from a list of states Washington says sponsor terrorism.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it again will allow inspections by the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency at its Yongbyon nuclear complex to verify the disablement process, pledged under a 2007 disarmament-for-aid deal with the United States and four regional powers.

“We welcome the U.S. which has honored its commitment to delist (North Korea) as ‘a state sponsor of terrorism,’” the ministry said in a statement carried by the country’s official Korean Central News Agency.

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North Korea halted its nuclear disablement in mid-August in anger over what it called U.S. delays in removing it from the terror list. The country has since taken steps toward reassembling its plutonium-producing facility and barred international inspectors from the site.

The United States had said North Korea first had to allow verification of the declaration of its nuclear programs it submitted in June. On Saturday, the United States said it took the North off the terrorism blacklist because Pyongyang had agreed to all of Washington’s nuclear inspection demands.

U.S. officials said North Korea agreed to allow atomic experts to take samples and conduct forensic tests at all of its declared nuclear facilities and undeclared sites on mutual consent, and would permit them to verify that it has told the truth about transfers of nuclear technology and allegations it ran a separate secret uranium enrichment program.

Japan’s finance minister, Shoichi Nakagawa, who was in the United States to discuss the global economic crisis, sharply criticized the decision Saturday saying it was “very regrettable” and that his country hadn’t been fully consulted beforehand.

Japan has been at odds with Pyongyang over abductions of its citizens by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.

“This is very disappointing. I consider kidnapping to be terrorism,” Mr. Nakagawa said, according to Japan’s Kyodo News Agency.

Following Mr. Nakagawa’s comments, Japan’s government took pains Sunday to show it was on board with the U.S. delisting.

“When the six-party talks continue to move forward, in the process of the various negotiations we will have ample opportunity to discuss the kidnappings. We have not lost any leverage at all,” said Prime Minister Taro Aso, who assumed power last month.

The Foreign Ministry said President Bush telephoned Mr. Aso before the announcement to assure him Mr. Bush understood Japan’s concerns over the kidnapping issue and was committed to its resolution.

U.S. officials said the North could be placed on the blacklist again if it doesn’t comply with the inspections. The North also said Sunday that prospects for its disarmament depend on whether the U.S. delisting actually takes effect and the North receives remaining international oil shipments promised under the 2007 aid deal.

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